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The stories of Aotearoa New Zealand weave together places and events, creating a rich tapestry. Rising up from our past, they tell us about ourselves, and help visitors to our country understand who we are. Discover, experience and enjoy the fascinating stories of Tohu Whenua in Northland, Otago and now the West Coast.
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The Bay of Islands in Northland is known not only for its beauty and climate, but also as one of New Zealand’s most significant historic areas. The area was the scene of early contact and conflict between the Maori people and European settlers, who began arriving in the late eighteenth century.
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Auckland, Tamaki makau rau, has been inhabited since around 1100 AD and many of its volcanic cones were once fortified. The capital from 1840-65, Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand with over 1 million inhabitants. It is also the largest Polynesian city in the world. Now a bustling modern centre with excellent shops, restaurants, galleries, museums and gardens, it still has many fine 19th and early 20th century buildings.
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Waikato, known for its rich, fertile farmland, was the scene of significant battles during the Land Wars of the mid-19th century. It is here that early missionary activity encouraged the Maori to adopt Pakeha farming methods.
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Well-known its natural beauty with misty rainforests and pristine golden beaches, the Coromandel is a popular holiday destination, and made all the more fascinating by its gold-mining, logging and gum-digging past.
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Taranaki is home to great surf, spectacular gardens, a mystic mountain, iron sand beaches, along with industries ranging from petroleum and gas through to dairying. Its understated charm and eclectic mix of cultures and contemporary style today belies the turbulent Taranaki Land Wars of the 1860s.
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The capital city of New Zealand since 1865, Wellington has been a focus of Pakeha settlement from 1840. It borders a magnificent harbour and boasts a varied range of architectural styles and heritage sites, complementing its claim as a culture capital.
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Regarded as New Zealand’s sunniest province, the Marlborough region is an area of great natural beauty which occupies the north-eastern corner of the South Island. The landscape is diverse, stretching from the sheltered waterways of the Marlborough Sounds to Kaikoura, where snow-capped mountains meet the sea. The sheltered coastal bays of Marlborough supported a small Māori population, from possibly as early as the twelfth century.
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Each district within the Canterbury region has dramatically contrasting scenery, with the jagged peaks of the magnificent Southern Alps rising sharply from the vast flat expanse of the Canterbury plains. Canterbury is dotted throughout with grand homesteads, fine churches and the evidence of early industry, and traces of Māori presence can also be seen.
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New Zealand's deep south is a region rich in diversity. Mountains, lakes and fiords, historic goldmining towns, lush countryside and cities of impressive architecture form a unique setting. The earliest settlers were whalers, many of whom married into the local Māori communities. In the early 1840s, the region shifted towards more of a farming focus, with settlers arriving in greater numbers. The region prospered on the basis of Central Otago gold in the 19th century, and today there still remain many fine old buildings that are a legacy of those times.
